


Stella Stellina

by Thats_Amore



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Babies, Established Relationship, M/M, Married Couple, Parenthood, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thats_Amore/pseuds/Thats_Amore
Summary: Alfred wakes up in the middle of the night to his husband singing a lullaby over the baby monitor.
Relationships: America/South Italy (Hetalia)
Kudos: 22





	Stella Stellina

Alfred wasn’t even half-awake when his hand stretched out across the mattress, but he was conscious enough to feel disappointed when he touched a wrinkled cotton bedsheet instead of warm skin. Alfred was no longer used to sleeping alone, and as far as he was concerned, Lorenzo needed to get back from wherever the heck he was so that Alfred could cuddle his husband properly.

Alfred was frowning and waiting for Lorenzo to return to their bed when he heard a voice singing through some kind of device, which was weird since he didn’t think they’d been listening to the radio earlier. The melodious voice was singing in Italian (something about stars, but Alfred was too tired to translate the rest of it), and now that he thought about it, the voice did sound exactly like Lorenzo…

Alfred suddenly remembered that they hadn’t left the radio on before they went to bed. But they had left on the baby monitor.

Earlier that day, they had finally gotten to meet Giovanna, the baby girl they had been preparing to adopt for the past several months. The person that before, they had only known on sonogram pictures and kicks to her mother’s stomach. The reason they had cleared out a shelf in their bookcase for parenting books, spent last weekend baby proofing every cabinet in the house, discussed a variety of names until they finally narrowed it down to the best one, and kept a running checklist of things they needed to do and buy which had been crossed off one by one. The reason they even had a baby monitor, and the reason Lorenzo had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night.

Alfred’s eyes flew open as he scrambled into an upright position. The world was blurry without his glasses (especially at night), so he grabbed them off the nightstand and put them on before he left the bedroom.

As he quietly padded down the hallway towards the nursery they’d set up a few weeks ago, Alfred smiled to himself. He was remembering earlier that day, when the nurse first handed him his daughter. She was a tiny bundle in a pink blanket with blue eyes and a shock of dark hair, and Alfred had felt both awed and terrified. Giovanna was a real person, no longer just a dream or a concept, and her precious life was literally in his hands. When she curled her miniature fist around his pinky finger, Alfred was so overwhelmed with love that he started crying, and not the restrained, manly kind of tears of an action movie hero. Lorenzo had called him a sentimental idiota, but his eyes were misting over too.

Before he met Giovanna, Alfred hadn’t thought love at first sight was truly possible. Even with Lorenzo, it had taken him a couple minutes of actual conversation before Alfred decided that Lorenzo was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. In a split second of holding his daughter, of feeling her weight in his arms and marveling over her miraculous existence, Alfred had been a complete goner. He loved her instantaneously, unconditionally, and irrevocably.

The nursery door was open just a crack, and a soft yellow light was coming from the night light set up close to the door. Lorenzo was singing and gently swaying back and forth, and because he was facing away from the door, he was completely unaware that Alfred was watching him.

Alfred’s sleepy smile transformed into a full-out grin as he gently pushed open the door. “Hey, you.”

Lorenzo turned around, and he was holding Giovanna. “Hey. Did I wake you up with my singing?”

Alfred shook his head and walked towards his husband and daughter. “Nah. You woke me up when I noticed you weren’t sleeping right next to me.”

Lorenzo chuckled and rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous. I swear, you’re more clingy than our newborn daughter.”

“How is she, by the way?” Alfred stepped in close so he could embrace Lorenzo from behind and peer over his shoulder at their little girl.

“She needed a diaper change. I took care of that, so Gia should be ready to go to sleep any minute now.” Giovanna’s eyes were fluttering open and shut like she was having a hard time keeping them open. Then she did the world’s tiniest yawn, and Alfred’s heart melted completely.

“Aww. I’m pretty sure that’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”

Lorenzo hummed in agreement. “You’re right. Our bambina is ridiculously cute. Alright, baby girl, time to go back to bed.”

Alfred carefully brushed his index finger over Giovanna’s forehead, and when he pulled his fingertip back, her eyes had closed, and she was breathing slow and steady. He released Lorenzo from his hug and followed him as he took Giovanna over to her crib and set her down.

Alfred sighed contently and leaned into his husband as he stood back up. “You’re really good with her, Lore.”

Lorenzo shrugged. “I figure I’ve done all right, at least for the first day. Hopefully, I won’t screw up too badly in the future.”

“I thought you were really amazing before, you know? But you with a kid, with _our kid_ , it’s like, I don’t even know. Words fail me.”

Lorenzo snorted. “Because it’s three in the morning?”

“Well, that’s part of it,” Alfred admitted. “And also, just… everything. Today’s been overwhelming, in a good way. I never even thought I’d be lucky enough to have you, much less her, and now I do.”

“I love you too, you big goofball.” Lorenzo shifted up on his toes to press a kiss to Alfred’s cheek. “We should probably leave before you wake Gia up with your sappy rambling.”

“Probably.” Alfred leaned over the crib to speak to Gia one last time. Her eyes were closed, and at the moment she was too sleepy to even pay attention to the baby mobile installed over her crib. “Night, night honey. Papa and I will see you in a few hours, okay?”

Gia didn’t say anything, of course, but she seemed peaceful enough for Alfred to feel comfortable leaving the nursery. After checking that the baby monitor was still on, he and Lorenzo left the room. Lorenzo gently shut the door behind them, and Alfred immediately wrapped an arm around him as they started to walk down the hallway.

“I love you _sooo_ much. I love her _sooo_ much. And my brain feels really loopy right now.”

Lorenzo laughed. “You’re hilarious when you’re exhausted. Next time this happens, I’m gonna make a recording and show it to your brother.”

Alfred yawned. “Mattie will enjoy that. He’ll probably call me a hoser or somethin’ like that.”

Lorenzo grinned at him teasingly. “Why do you think I was planning to show it to him?”

Alfred attempted to glare at his husband, but it probably came out more like a squint. “You’re mean. But you’re also really hot, so I’ll let you get away with it. Just this once, though.”

Lorenzo was silently shaking with laughter as he opened the door to their bedroom. “Okay, bed time for you, dumbass.”

“Mmm, I like the sound of that. You know how much I enjoy it when you order me around.” Alfred was too tired to do anything other than sleep and cuddle Lorenzo, but he wiggled his eyebrows like he was attempting to seduce him.

Predictably, he was rewarded with a scowl and a fierce blush. “Cazzo, just… shut up, idiota. You’re making me all flustered.”

Alfred giggled. “I meant to. You’re cute when you’re flustered.” He removed his glasses and set them down on the night stand, then he tugged Lorenzo closer to the bed with him. “And I want my cute husband to go to bed with me.”

Lorenzo blushed even redder, which was a pretty impressive feat given how red his face already was, and joined Alfred in the bed with only a few muttered curses. As soon as they got under the covers, Alfred immediately wrapped his arms around Lorenzo and closed his eyes.

“This is a lot better,” he declared sleepily. “It should always be like this.”

Lorenzo tucked his head into the crook of Alfred’s neck. “Next time Gia cries over the baby monitor, I’ll make sure to wake you up too.”

“Sounds good.” He ran his hand up and down Lorenzo’s back, idly remembering how he woke up a few minutes ago. “I liked that song you were singing to her. Was it the Italian version of ‘Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star’? It sounded like that.”

“We don’t really sing that one in Italy, but it’s similar. I’ll teach it to you tomorrow, when you’re awake enough to remember it.”

“I’m not sure what lullaby I would’ve sung if the baby monitor had woken me up first,” Alfred said. “Definitely not ‘Rock-a-Bye-Baby.’ That one always struck me as kind of creepy.”

“Only a sick bastard would put a baby in a tree on a windy day to watch them fall out of it,” Lorenzo grumbled protectively. “We’re not singing anything that can give our little girl nightmares.”

Alfred wiggled down a few inches to kiss his husband’s forehead. “I’ll figure out the lullaby thing tomorrow. And I’ll make sure whatever I pick meets with your exacting standards,” he teased.

“You better, or I’ll stick you in a fucking tree and see how you like it,” Lorenzo muttered, too quietly to seem all that threatening. Alfred just chuckled at Lorenzo morphing into an overprotective papa bear, which was insanely adorable. “Buona notte, caro. Ti amo.”

Alfred had picked up some Italian over the years (though his skill at a second language was severely compromised by sleep exhaustion). Fortunately, he was still awake enough to understand something he’d heard hundreds of times before. “Good night, sweetheart. I love you too.”

With no noises coming over the baby monitor and Lorenzo warm and content in his arms, Alfred fell asleep within seconds. He fell asleep with a small smile on his face, looking forward to the next day with his husband, his daughter, and the beautiful life they had created together.

**Author's Note:**

> The song Lorenzo was singing was "Stella, stellina." More info available here: https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2576


End file.
